Clause 17 - The British Transport Police Authority

Part of Railways and Transport Safety Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 2:30 pm on 11 February 2003.

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Photo of John Spellar John Spellar Minister of State (Department for Transport) 2:30, 11 February 2003

In essence, it is offences that are not likely to be railway specific.

Questions have been asked about how the role of the British Transport police compares with that of county forces. The questions took two forms. The first related to the chief constable and the chairmanship. I can tell the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) formally, as I did informally, that the force is not unique in having its chief constable appointed by the Secretary of State. The Ministry of Defence police and the National Criminal Intelligence Service are similar in that respect. The simple reason is that the authorities that govern those forces are all appointed and have no democratically elected element, as exists in county forces. In the context of the BTP and the Ministry of Defence police, the Secretary of State is the elected representative who can be held democratically accountable through the parliamentary process.

Secondly, I was asked why there should be rail-specific work. The policing of the railway requires a specialist police service to deal with the threat of terrorism, the problems of trespass and vandalism, and the network nature of the railway system, which provides an easy escape mechanism for criminals. The

Government, therefore, consider that the railways are best protected by a unified police force, which can provide seamless security to the entire network.